[quote=@Little Bird]
<Snipped quote by King Kindred>

Would Lucian replace his mother? I was gonna suggest a bait & switch situation where she secretly passed her power to him, but the Disney villains don't realize it so she gets taken instead and they're like, why the f isn't this working as advertised?
[/quote]

Yeah, he replaced his mother. Maybe she ends up in Traverse Town as well and gets princessnapped. So when Lucian arrives he finds his dad in hysteria beginning his adventure.